The Fat Facts: Butter vs Margarine, The Truth We’re Not Being Told

Most people believe that margarines is much healthier than butter, through massive marketing and smear campaigns that also involves statements from leading scientists and doctors informing the populace on the dangers of butter and the benefits of margarine over butter. Margarine was made as far back as 1903, as a supposed healthier option to butter, the introduction of hydrogen onto vegetable oil in a production process makes margarine easier to spread on your favourite bread; however it has even more trans-fat than butter, which makes it even more detrimental to our overall health, as trans-fat clog up our arteries and can cause stroke, high blood pressure and heart attack. The dangers of trans fats was not known back then, but in more recent times, there dangers to humans have been carefully studied and exposed to the world.

While the human body needs fats, the natural fats are either saturated or unsaturated fats which help the body to carry out its basic functions effectively. For example, omega 3 and 6 fatty acids help with the proper functioning of the human brain. There are also fat-soluble vitamins, such as; vitamin A, D and E, which help to convey fat through the bloodstream to all parts of the body including the brain. On the other hand trans fats are totally different and rather than being soluble like saturated and unsaturated fats, they retain their solidity much longer and tend to build under our skin in the abdominal region, buttocks, hips and thighs. They also are the leading cause of cardiovascular conditions as they accumulate to form plaque in the arteries, which as mentioned earlier can lead to a stroke.

By the 1950s, butter was completely flawed by experts, as they suggested that its high cholesterol s was one of leading cause of heart-related disease. In recent times, it has been proven that a high-fat diet is not necessarily responsible for cardiovascular problems; it all depends on the type of fat. In bread, as well as sugar, the fat found in these foods have now been seen as a major causative factor for heart-related disease, because of the high levels of trans fats present in them.

Caution is therefore needed when choosing between butter and margarine. As the latter is clearly not a good enough alternative for the former and in fact it is a very dangerous option to our health.